Horry County assessing damage in wake of weekend’s storm

Horry County officials will spend the next few days assessing the damage to hundreds of homes, buildings and roads and begin cleanup after a drenching storm dropped as much as 24 inches of rain on the area over the weekend.

Damage could worsen for those who live along the Waccamaw River in Conway, as forecasters expect the river to crest as high as 15.9 feet. The flood state for Waccamaw River is 11 feet.

Horry County spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier said police, fire and rescue officials were on the streets Monday to double check roads that had been closed to see what the damage had been and if they could be reopened.

Road damage and flooding along portions of major roads such as U.S. Highway 501, Grissom Parkway and U.S. Highway 701 caused Horry County Schools and Georgetown County Schools to cancel classes Tuesday.

Many areas of Horry County got total weekend rainfall in the double digits, ranging from 8.92 inches measured in Galivants Ferry as of 8 a.m. Monday to Longs being measured at 23.74 inches as of 10:15 a.m. Monday.

Bourcier said it was too early to tell if there had been any sinkholes created or other damage to the pavement and officials were waiting for the water to recede.

“Our issue is going to be our dirt roads,” she said. “We have 600 miles of dirt roads in the county. So our public works people are going to have a lot to assess and repair as needed.”

Bourcier said it would take some time to determine the cost of all of the damage to homes and infrastructure.

“Hundreds of homes have had water damage, starting with North Myrtle Beach and Little River on Friday,” she said. “And then Conway, Aynor, Carolina Forest, Forestbrook, the homes along Palmetto Point Boulevard – they’ve all had water intrusion and flooding. It really is all over the county.”

In Myrtle Beach, police assisted residents in the Grande Dunes neighborhood by boat Monday morning after the road collapsed at San Marcello Drive at Scala Court.

Bourcier said the Horry County rescue crews assisted some people out of their homes – though she did not have a count of those assisted – and that many of those leaving their homes went voluntarily.

“People would call and say they needed help,” she said. “They were leaving at night and it was dark so they were scared, or they wanted to leave but their vehicle was flooded.”

The county opened shelters for those who left their homes and as of Monday afternoon there were 16 people staying across three shelters.

“Most people who we’ve had to assist in leaving are staying with friends and family,” she said.

Kirk Lovell, assistant director of airports at Myrtle Beach International Airport, said no flights have been impacted by the weather.

“During the entire storm, flights have been operating fairly smoothly,” Lovell said.

He encouraged people flying into or out of the airport to visit www.flymyrtlebeach.com to track arrival and departure status of flights. At 1:15 p.m. Monday, three arriving flights and four departing flights were listed as being delayed, which is not unusual for the airport.

Forecasters from the National Weather Service in Wilmington said Monday afternoon that Horry and Georgetown counties were expected to get only an additional .01 to .1 inches of rain by Tuesday morning.

“Good news regarding additional rainfall as the amounts were lowered through the afternoon and evening,” NWS meteorologist Steve Pfaff said Monday afternoon. “Regardless, fast moving showers are still possible through that time but drier conditions are on the way.”

Wind gusts were expected to pick up later Monday, which Pfaff said could cause downed trees and power outages. Santee Cooper reported about 75 customers being without power as of 1:30 p.m. Monday.

Meteorologists said the Waccamaw River in Conway is experiencing major flooding and said they would turn their attention to monitoring the river forecast.

Meteorologists said if the water crests at the predicted 15.9 feet it would be the third-highest crest in history, and exceed levels experienced during the 1998 El Nino event.

Pfaff said residents could see flooding of the Waccamaw River into the beginning of next week.

Reporter Jennifer Donovan contributed to this report.

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 6:17 AM with the headline "Horry County assessing damage in wake of weekend’s storm."